This is an ongoing discussion about 17th Century naval wargaming (really, 1620-1720). Part of what is offered are scenarios for games: orders-of-battle, ship lists, battle descriptions, and scenarios for Age of Sail II-Privateers Bounty (a sailing warfare computer simulation/game), suitable scaled for that environment.
Copyright (c) 2003-2004 James C. Bender

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Sunday, November 11, 2007

An alternative theory about Joost Bulter

Let us suppose that both the list dated 16 May 1652 and 28 November 1652 are correct. The 16 May list says that Joost Bulter commanded a ship hired by the Groningen Directors (Directors of Stad en Lande). The 28 November list says that the ship Prins Hendrick was a Directors ship from Friesland or Groningen. The other two ships listed were definitely hired by the Directors at Harlingen in Friesland, so that would mean that the Prins Hendrick was hired by the Groningen Directors. By August 1652, Jan Reijndersz Wagenaer commanded the Prins Hendrick. Suppose that in July, the Prins Hendrick was one of the ships which were assigned new captains. That could allow Joost Bulter to have commanded the ship in May. By December 1652, he was listed as captain the ship Stad Groningen en Ommelanden. To go even further in theorizing, suppose that the Stad Groningen en Ommelanden was originally named Kameel as a merchant ship and was renamed on being purchased by the Admiralty of Friesland. That could mean that the picture on the tafferel was still a camel. My theory about the origin of the name in the published literature is that there is a drawing by Willem van de Velde de Oude that mentions the Kameel as the name of Joost Bulter's ship and that the origin was the picture on the tafferel. I just wanted a plausible story that might explain the evidence that we have. I don't particularly think that my explanation is the answer, but I thought that I would add it to the discussion.

About Me

I spent 11 years on active duty in the navy. Half was as an enlisted man and half as an officer. My Dad had interested me in the navy and ships, when I was young. I found that I was attracted to doing research, regardless of topic, although much of that research has been in the fields of naval and military history. My Dad was also an artist, and got me drawing and painting since I was three. Much of my work consists of portraits of military and naval historical figures, as well as ships and tanks.